A look at officer-involved shootings and police training in comparable cities

By Patrick Lohmann

Darren White stood before the City Council alongside Police Chief Ray Schultz. The director of public safety was trying to give context as to why Albuquerque officers have shot at or killed 11 members of the public this year, nearly twice the city’s average since 2004.

While there may have been lots of hot air in our skies, there was not much inside City Hall on Monday, Oct. 4. It was a quick-and-easy Council meeting with a sparse crowd. First, councilors picked over the agenda and postponed a number of items. Then they approved a large package of police department grant applications and the sale of about $135 million in general obligation bonds. They also made some committee appointments. Not much debate was stirred by these issues.

It was a little irrational, I admit. But ever since last summer, when I got the job as a parking attendant for the University of New Mexico's special-events staff, I had taken to scouring the newspaper's sports section after every home game. Be it football or women's basketball, I was fully expecting to see mention of how my colleagues and I acquitted ourselves the night before.

Dateline: Brazil—Political critics who are trying to prevent an actual clown from running for office are calling for the candidate to pass a simple literacy test. Francisco Silva—better known as Tiririca, which means “Grumpy” in Portuguese—is running in October’s general election in an attempt to represent Sao Paulo in Congress. Incredibly, the TV comedian in the multicolored hat is ahead in the most recent polls thanks to slogans like, “It can’t be any worse than it is now!” Opponents say he is unqualified, since the country’s constitution states members of congress must be literate. According to Sao Paulo’s Metro daily, critics have filed a lawsuit demanding that Tiririca be forced to take a literacy test. Época magazine recently reported claims by people who have worked with the clown/politician that he is illiterate. A video on the publication’s website shows a reporter asking Silva to read questions from an election poll. The candidate appears unable to do so, and has a campaign aide read them for him.

Joe Biden's visit to Albuquerque last Thursday that caused citywide gridlock for about 90 minutes at rush hour had to be detrimental to Denish's campaign. If I wasn't scared to hell of Martinez it would have cost them my vote. How many poor pendejos like myself were rushing from job No. 1 to job No. 2 and couldn't get there in time because the whole city was paralyzed? I'm just thankful that my boss was cool when I started a half-hour late. And it was all so Denish and Biden could have their $1,500-a-plate fundraiser. Didn't the Democratic party used to be the party of the poor and the working class? Most New Mexico Democrats are lucky if they can dine out once or twice a month and spend five or six dollars on a plate these days. A little more awareness and a little more planning for this event would have been nice.